


Together

by chaoticamanda



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Dipcifica, F/M, NWHS, a little auishbut just with the timeline, nwhs aftermath
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-07
Updated: 2015-06-07
Packaged: 2018-04-03 08:02:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4093297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaoticamanda/pseuds/chaoticamanda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"What are you supposed to do when everything's ripped out from under you?"</p><p>Pacifica was quiet for a minute, her face thoughtful. He thought she would stay silent, but she laid her head against his shoulder and murmured, "You find a friend. You find a friend who'll help you...get the world back where it belongs. Or where it should have been."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Together

**Author's Note:**

> Dipper, Mabel, and Pacifica are all 15 (instead of twelve), and the Northwest Mansion episode happened a little earlier in the season. Everything else is the same.

Dipper wasn't really sure when it happened, or even how. They had just been on the hunt for some small creature that was terrorizing Lazy Susan's diner when he had looked at her and realized that he didn't want to stop spending time with her, that she looked really nice when fighting a hybrid of a gecko and and squirrel. His thoughts had spiraled down from there, and Dipper Pines finally came to the conclusion that he had a crush on Pacifica Northwest.

Since he'd helped her defy her parents in their mansion, they'd become fast friends in the space between. She was interested in the journal and helping people, and they would go on monster hunts together-- sometimes with Mabel if she wasn't busy with Candy and Grenda. When they weren't doing something related to mysteries, he was helping her restore her name by helping out around town.

Dipper was a little hard pressed to admit that for as long as they had been friends, he had been having an actual fun summer. He wasn’t worried about having to prove himself like he did around Wendy’s friends or the other townsfolk. Pacifica was fifteen, like him, and she didn't have other friends either, like Wendy did. They were both each other's first real friends here, and they were navigating that rocky path slowly. He was sure his crush on her would ruin the progress they had made together, so he kept it to himself and ignored Mabel's creepy grins.

They spent most days together, meeting up at some point or another. Dipper was sure that today would be no different.

The morning had started off light and happy, with some innocent summer fun at the shack. "Kids...there's something I have to tell you," Stan had said while looking down at the ground, away from him and Mabel, who were happily playing with some water balloons. It had all gone horribly wrong after that.

It was the worst day of his life without question. For some reason, Bill's words would not stop bouncing around his head like stray bullets.

_Besides, what has your sister done for you lately? How many times have you sacrificed for her? And when has she ever returned the favor?_

She hadn't listened to him again. Not when his life and her life and all of their lives depended on it. Sure, it had caused the Author or Stan's brother or someone to come out of a portal, but still the fact remained. They could've died. "Stan"-- if that was his real name-- had spent the whole summer lying to them, and still she had chosen him over her own twin brother.

The hurt, the shame, the...the dread that something worse was going to happen had pooled in the pit of his stomach, and it was now sloshing around inside of him as he weaved between trees and over animal-made holes in the ground. It was cowardly, he knew, to run from the shack, from Stan, from Mabel, but it was all he could do. He couldn't be near them now, especially after he had been proven wrong in such a way. He didn’t know what or who to believe anymore.

Dipper wasn't sure if he'd been crying since he'd started running, or it had happened somewhere along the way, but he was beginning to choke on the tears. He stumbled and then fell, scraping his knees. He barely felt the pain, and instead, anger welled within him and he punched the ground with balled fists.

He was so fucking stupid. He didn't know anything, did he?

"Dipper?" Startled, Dipper looked up quickly, ready to take off running again. "Dipper! Are you okay?"

It was Pacifica calling to him, standing near the road he hadn't realized he'd been so close to. God, he couldn't even run away right. Dipper didn't answer her, but he let her come closer and sit down on the ground next to him. She was staring at his bleeding knees, and maybe avoiding his wet face. He appreciated that.

"Dipper, are you okay?" She asked again, "Is...Is Mabel okay? The whole town...it just-- like, lifted up! I was coming to see if you guys were okay, or if..." she trailed off. She didn’t need to say that a lot of the trouble in town was usually caused by a Pines.

"Yeah," was his only answer for her. He smeared his forearm across his face, wiping his tears away.

"Dipper?" Pacifica was hesitant, and for some reason, it made him want to cry again.

"Pacifica," his voice was gruff, coarse from screaming at Mabel. Suddenly the world seemed duller, and all he wanted was to sleep, "What am I supposed to do?"

"What's wrong?" her voice was soft and gentle, and he wanted to lean into her. He didn't.

"I don't know anything, Pacifica. I thought...the journals-- they were important, a mystery that I needed to figure out. Well..." He looked at her, and he felt the same pull in his chest that he always did, but like he always did, he ignored it. "What are you supposed to do when everything's ripped out from under you?"

Pacifica was quiet for a minute, her face thoughtful. He thought she would stay silent, but she laid her head against his shoulder and murmured, "You find a friend. You find a friend who'll help you...get the world back where it belongs. Or where it should have been."

Dipper let out a breath of air, and then laid his head on top of hers. Crush aside, he needed the comfort. His voice was a little weaker when he spoke again, "What am I supposed to do?"

"Start from the beginning," she answered, and so he did.

Dipper told her about Stan being arrested, about the break-in to the shack, about the fake IDs, about the portal, about everything. Pacifica listened quietly to it all, letting him get all the hurt that had been sloshing around inside him to spill out.Finally, when he caught up to the part of bolting from the shack away from them all, he stopped.

“I can see why you’re upset,” Pacifica murmured, and he felt a little bit lighter, “I wouldn’t know what to do either.”

“I just...I trusted him. He lied to me and I trusted him. I trusted Mabel too, with my life. I guess...I guess that was wrong of me too,” Dipper scoffed, lifting his head and seeing the scene played out again in the dirt beside them.

“You can trust me,” Pacifica said firmly, lifting her head up to look at him.

“That’s what they said,” he muttered, before seeing the hurt in her face. He sighed, “I’m sorry. I just...I don’t know. I don’t know anymore.”

“Well,” she leaned forward and heaved herself up, brushing off her skirt. Dipper noticed for the first time that her hair was messy, and her clothes were smudged with dirt too. “We’ll get through it together.”

Pacifica held out a hand to him, and he took it, pulling himself up as well. He didn’t realize that he hadn’t let go until she had carefully unwound her hand and turned away from him. She peered out at the road, not noticing his blush. “I don’t think we should go back to town. Everyone’s all in a frenzy. And...do you want to go back to the shack?”

Dipper shook his head when she looked back at him. He couldn’t face them yet. “Well…” Pacifica looked back at the road, “What about the water tower?”

“Sure,” It was one of the places he knew that Mabel would not go, her fear of heights stopping her. It was childish, but he didn’t care. Dipper stuffed his hands into his pockets and started walking towards it, falling in step beside her. He was almost half a foot taller than her, but she held herself up high. They walked in silence back to the place where they had first really become friends.

Pacifica climbed up the rusty ladder ahead of Dipper, avoiding the orange dust easily. By the time Dipper reached the top, his jeans were covered in spots of it.

Together they leaned against the railing, looking out at the broken town. The sky was turning a brilliant orange color, shadowing the two teenagers. “I’m really glad we’re friends,” Dipper murmured, squinting into the sun.

Pacifica looked at him, the corners of her lips pulling into a dazzling smile. “Me too.”

She slid her hand into his, interlocking their fingers together. Dipper swallowed, forgetting all of his trouble with Stan and Mabel. His heart was beating too fast and all he could think of was the time back in Piedmont when he had his first kiss with Lisa Mazza and they had knocked their teeth together and she’d run away crying.

“Dipper,” Pacifica said softly, “I meant what I said before-- that we’ll get through this together.”

He smiled at her despite his nervousness. Dipper believed her, ignoring the tiny voice in the back of his head that sounded a lot like Bill did. “I know. I trust you, Pacifica.”

“Good,” she smiled back, her own heart pounding just as hard. She was leaning in and Dipper was panicking, but he let her lips touch his anyway.

It was awkward at first, as was everything that Dipper seemed to do, but they figured it out, and soon Pacifica was leaning against the water tower itself and Dipper’s hands were on either side of her face. The town and the people in it all melted away, and by the time they had pulled away from each other, the sun was almost fully set.

Dipper let his hands drop to his sides, fidgeting. Pacifica watched him for a moment before she burst out laughing, and before he knew it, both of their laughs were echoing back at them.

“So,” he said, afraid that it had all been some sort of sick joke, “I....”

“Yeah?” She tilted her head and he liked how carefree she looked.

“I don’t know what to do now,” he repeated, probably for the fourth time that day alone. This time though, he wasn’t anxious or hurt; he was just...light.

“Well…” Pacifica took a step back to the railing, looking down. “We could go back down there and face whatever’s waiting.”

Dipper looked down too, and the dark didn’t look as menacing. Facing Stan didn’t seem all that hard anymore either. Dipper let out a deep breath, nodding, “...together?”

“Well, duh,” Pacifica rolled her eyes playfully and began to descend into the clearing below. Dipper followed her, trying to keep his hands from shaking when he thought about what was ahead.

This time he was the one to grab Pacifica’s hand, and he didn’t miss her blush. It made him feel better to now that he wasn’t the only one who was nervous. Together they started down the path back towards the shack, hand in hand, a new kind of confidence in each of their veins.


End file.
